Loose-leaf binder.



v H. C. MILLER.

LOOSE LEAF BINDER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-23.19M-

Patented Sept. 18, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

H. C. MILLER.

LOOSE LEAF BINDER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23. !9I7.

1 %%,85 Patented Sept. 18, 1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- %m (Jaw 60d;

HENRY CHARLES MILLER, OF MILWAUKEE, \VISCON'SIN.

LOOSE-LEAF BINDER.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Application filed February 23, 1917. Serial No. 150,409.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY C. MILLER, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the, county of Milwaukee and State of lVisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Loose-Leaf Binders; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in loose leaf binders of that general type including a pair of binder heads and connecting members for the heads having portions flexible throughout and movable into'one of the heads to provide for adjustment of one of the connecting members between the heads.

One disadvantage of loose leaf binders of this type heretofore contemplated and embodying' means for mechanically extending and retracting the flexible connecting posts has been the loss of time and labor incidental to the releasing actuation of such mechanical means. In such types of hinders contemplating a manually operable means for manipulating the flexible connecting posts, it is difficult to obtain the desired clamping action which a mechanical actuating means, usually embodying aright and left hand feed shaft, affords.

It is therefore primarily the object of my invention to provide a mechanical means for moving the connecting posts into and out of a binder head, with which the posts are connected in such manner as to permit their very ready detachment therefrom. More specifically in this connection, it is my object to provide a mechanical operating means for the connecting posts which is automati cally detachable from the posts upon operation thereof to feed the posts outwardly, whereby the posts may be readily released for manual movement relative to the binder head upon movement of the binder heads apart, and further wherein the operating means is automatically reengageable with the posts to procure a sufficiently tight bind ing action of the posts in closing the binder.

It is further an object in this connection to provide an arrangement wherebythe fiexible connecting posts may be detached manually from the mechanical operating means thereof, to provide for a most ready manipulation under certain conditions.

It is still further an object to provide an arrangement whereby tie mechanical operating means for the flexible posts may serve as temporary means for clamping the posts to the receiving head in the manner necessitating but a partial rotation of the feed screw to procure successive clamping and unclamping actuations.

A still further object resides in the provision of a flexible connecting post having a most ready fleXure in its single desired direction of flexure.

Nith the above and other objects and advantages in view, the invention resides more particularly in the novel combination, formation and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view through a receiving binder head embodying my invention.

Fig, 2 is an end view of a pair of hinder heads and a connecting post engageable in one of said heads, the said head being in vertical. section as indicated by the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through one end portion. of said. head showing the temporary binding action of the carriage blocks- Fig. d is an elevational vimv of one of the links of a desired form of flexible connecting post, with an adjacent link associated therewith in section, taken on the line H of Fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a pair of such links, looking toward the inner sides thereof.

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view through the links on theline 66 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 7,is a side elevational view of a con necting post flexible in one plane only and avoiding the necessity of providing pivot-- ally connected link sections.

Fig. 8 is an elevational view of a section of said post, looking toward the inner side thereof.

Fig. 9 is a transverse sectional view through this post on the line 9--9 of Fig. 7.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, 5 and 6 designate preferably upper and lower hinder heads with the usual blocks 7 in their ends. The upper head. 5 is preferably of the spectacle case type and extended longitudinally through this upper head at one side and journaled in the end blocks 7 thereof is a Patented Sept.18, rear.

feed shaft 8 provided with right and left hand threads and having one end squared and extended into a socket 9 in one of the end blocks 7 for engagement with a suitable key member insertible in said socket. A pair of carriage blocks 10 are disposed in the head 5 and carry the sleeves 11 threadedly engaged on the oppositely threaded portions of the feed shaft. These blocks are held slidably on the bottom of the binder head by engagement of their adjacent sides with a guide rod 12 secured longitudinally in the head at its side opposite the feed shaft. The bottom of the binder head 5 is provided with openings 13 adjacent its ends for the reception of flexible connecting posts 14, the ends of said posts within the binder head being provided with end pieces 15 having their free exi cemities beveled and each provided with transversely extending aperture 16 which is adapted to receive a holding pin 17 projecting inwardly from each of the carriage blocks.

Thus upon rotating the feed shaft to move the carriage blocks inwardly, the flexible posts 14 will be retracted to procure a tight clamping action of the binder heads with respect to a body of leaves disposed there between, and to permit a ready movement apart of the binder heads to open the hinder, the connecting posts may be detached from the carriage blocks for movement independently thereof.

This operation may obviously be efieeted manually by merely opening the binder head and lifting the end pieces 15 of the connecting posts clear of the pins 11- For effecting this detachment mechanically in a manner which does not interfere with manual detachment, the bottom of the binder head is provided with series of transverse slots 18 substantially forming series of teeth, and pivoted at one end in an opening of each carriage block 10 is a pawl 19 having a spur 20 at its pivoted end which projects under the carriage block, and which by engagement in one of the slots 8 upon outward movement of the carriage block is adapted to rock the pawl upwardly and thus strip the end pieces 15 of the corresponding connecting head from the pin 1'? of the block. Thus a slight rotative movement of the feed shaft 8 will effect the automatic detachment of the connecting posts from the carriage blocks, and the binder heads may be freely moved apart. In closing the hinder, the heads are manually moved together to automatically feed the connecting posts within the receiving head 5, and the carriage blocks 10 may be moved to engage their pin 1? in the end pieces of the connecting posts, and

then further moved by rotation of the feed shaft to procure a tight clamping action of the binder heads. The aforementioned end bevel of the end pieces facilitates movement of the clamping blocks to a position thereunder, and for assuring engagement of the pins 17 in said end pieces, springs 21 may be secured to the cover of the binder head. By the provision of slots 18 throughout the major portion of the length of the binder head, provision is made for automatic engagement and disengagement of the carriage blocks with the connecting posts in differing degrees of projection of said post from the head.

For providing a temporary means for holding the flexible posts against movement relative to the head 5, the carriage blocks 10 may be moved outwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, for abutting engagement with intermediate portions of the posts, to bind said-intermediate portions of the posts against the outer edges of the openings 13. Thus clamping action may obviously be released or applied'by a partial rotation of the feed shaft 8, thus procuring an exceedingly ready manipulation.

I have found that the provision of a flexible connecting post comprising pivotally connected links circular in cross section does not provide for a sufiicient degree of :flexure of the posts, and to increase the ilexure of the posts the links are flattened on both sides transversely of the plane of flexure, as shown 5 more particularly at the right hand side of Fig. 1.

I find it desirable in some instances to use flexible posts formed of sheet -metal, and Figs. 4 to 6 show a post embodying this construction wherein each of the links is formed of a flat plate of metal having its interliiediate portion bent in cylinder flattened at opposed portions, the side edges of the plate being bent inwardly and being provided with upward extensions 22 oflset inwardly to lie in engaging relation between the edge portions of an adjacent link, and being pivotally connected therewith by a pin .23 passed therethrough and through said edge portions and held against displacement abutment with the sides of the cylindrical body of the link, it being appreciated that. this pin is assembled in the link coincident with the bending f rmation of the cylindrical body of the link. To permit a most ready movement of the body oi? leaves with respect to the links, the outer portions of the top and bottom edges of the links are inclined at an acute angle to the axis of the links, the inner portions of said edges of the links being curved to permit fleXure of the post in one direction only. It is appreciated that a provision for liexureof the posts only at their inner sides is essential in view of the necessity of preventing relative lateral movement of the binder heads.

Figs. 7 to 9 show a still further form of connecting posts which obviates the use of the form of a pivotally connected links. This type of "post comprises a lower end piece 24 socketed for s iitable securement to a binder head and an upper end piece 25 having in the present instance a socket link 26 pivoted thereto and engageable with a pin 27 carried by a carriage bloclr28 connected with the feed shaft 8 of the receiving binder head. Connected to these end pieces 25 are a pair of preferably metallic flexible cords 29, and disposed about these cords are'a series of sheathing bands 30 which have their end edges disposed in abutting relation. Each of these sheathing bands comprises a plate of metal bent about the pair of cords 29 and having their side edge portions bent inwardly between the cords, with their extremities curved outwardly whereby said cords are held in the band against relative lateral movement. Each of the bands thus presents an oval cross-section. To permit flexure of the post thus provided in a single direction, the edge portions of the bands at the open sides thereof are curvilinearly cut away, the open sides of the bands being disposed inwardly with respect to'the assembly of the posts in a binder, and thus the outer sides of the posts present a substantially unbroken curved surface.

What is claimed is:

1. A loose leaf binder including a pair of binder heads, flexible connecting posts secured to one head and passed into the other head to extensibly lie therewithin, carriage blocks slidably mounted in the last mentioned head, means for simultaneously moving said carriage blocks in opposite directions and means for detachably connecting said carriage blocks and the flexible posts.

2. A loose leaf binder including a pair of binder heads, flexible connecting posts secured to one head and passed into the other head to extensibly lie therewithin, carriage blocks slidably mounted in the last mentioned head, means for simultaneously moving said carriage blocks in opposite directions, means for detachably connecting said carriage blocks and the flexible posts, and means for automatically procuring detachment of the flexible posts from the carriage blocks upon outward movement of said blocks.

3. A loose leaf binder including a pair of binder heads, flexible connecting posts secured to one head and passed intothe other head to extensibly lie therewithin, carriage blocks slidably mounted in the last mentioned head, means for simultaneously moving said carriage blocks in opposite directions, pins on said carriage blocks, and end pieces for the flexible posts provided with recesses for receiving the pins of the carriage blocks.

4. A loose leaf binder including a pair of binder heads, flexible connecting posts segig cured to one head and passed into the other head to extensibly lie therewithin, carriage blocks slidably mounted in the last mentioned head, means for simultaneously moving said carriage blocks in opposite directions, means detachably connecting said carriage blocks and the flexible posts, pawls pivoted to the carriage blocks and engageable with the flexible posts to detach said posts from the blocks, and means in the head for engaging said pawls upon movement of the carriage blocks.

5. A loose leaf binder including a pair of binder heads, flexible connecting posts secured to one head and passed into the other head to extensibly lie therewithin, carriage blocks slidably mounted in the last mentioned head, means for simultaneously moving said carriage blocks in opposite directions, means detachably connecting said ca 1'- riage blocks and the flexible posts, pawls pivoted to the carriage blocks and engageable with the flexible posts to detach said posts from the blocks, and series of ratchet teeth in the head engageable with the pawls to rock said paWls.

6. A loose leaf binder including a pair of binder heads, flexible connecting posts secured to one head and passed into the other head to extensibly lie therewithin, carriage blocks slidably 'mounted in the last mentioned head, a feed shaft journaled in the head and pivoted with oppositely threaded sections connected with the carriage blocks, and means detachably connecting said carriage blocks and the flexible posts.

7. A loose leaf binder including a pair of binder heads, flexible connecting posts secured to one head and passed into the other head to extensibly lie therewithin, carriage blocks slidably mounted in the last mentioned head, means for simultaneously moving said carriage blocks in opposite directions, means detachably connecting said carriage blocks and the flexible posts, and means for detaching the flexible posts from the carriage blocks comprising pawls pivoted to the carriage blocks, the adjacent wall of the head being 'provided with longitudinal series of slots, and spurs on said pawls engageable in the slots to rock the pawls.

8. A loose leaf binder including a pair of binder heads, flexible connecting posts secured to one head and passed into the other head to extensibly lie therewithin, carriage blocks slidably mounted in the last mentioned head, means for simultaneously moving said carriage blocks in opposite direc tions, means detachably connecting said carriage blocks and the ends of the posts and said carriage blocks being clampingly enageable With the flexible posts at their unctures With the head.

9. In a loose leaf binder, a flexible connecting post comprising end pieces, a flex- ,ible core member connecting said end pieces,

a series of sheathing members disposed about said core member with their edges disposed in abutting relation and the edge portions of the sheathing members at one' side of the post being cut away to permit flexure of the post" in one direction.

10. In a loose leaf binder, a flexible connecting post comprising end pieces, .a pair of flexible core members connecting the end pieces, a series of sheathing members dis- I posed about the core members and with th'eir edges disposed in abutting relation, each sheathing member comprising a plate bent about the core members with its side edge portions bent inwardly between the core members, and the end edge portions'of the sheathing members at one side of the post being cut away to permit fiexure of the post in one direction.

11. A loose leaf binder including a pair of binder heads, flexible connecting posts secured to one head and passed into the other head to extensibly lie therewithin, carriage blocks slidably mounted in the last mentioned head, means for simultaneously moving said carriage blocks in opposite directions, and means for automatically coupling and uncoupling the flexible posts and carriage blocks upon a selective movement of said carriage blocks.

12. A binder post for loose leaf ledgers comprising end pieces, a flexible core member connecting the end pieces, a series of sheathing members incasing the core memhers having-their edges in abutting relation. the abutting edge portions of the sheathing members being spaced apart at one alined point to permit flexure of said posts in one direction only.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of \Visconsin.

HENRY CHARLES MILLER. 

